First bass on Skye!

 I've had the rare opportunity on Sunday to go on a solo trip with the kayak. It's been a while since I've done that and pretty much forgotten/couldn't be bothered fitting the pedals and other accessories... Instead I used it as a paddle board and just paddled as it was flat calm. I went to my seatrout mark just to give myself a last chance of hooking a better one of these fish for this year and also to explore the area some more.

A day for it!

I paddled against the current at first so as to make it easier to fish with the current later on. This was a deeper rocky area and I could see lots of baitfish around. I also passed some boulder fields and identified some larger wrasse moving about. I had just changed leader from a thicker to a thinner one for the seatrout but decided to get a wee soft plastic down for the wrasse. This typically meant that I got busted on the first fish so I had to retie a thicker leader...!

I rigged a new softplastic creature bait  on an articulated Texas jighead and dropped it into a good looking hole. It didn't take long to see a dark shape moving towards my lure and I struck once I felt the take. A spirited wee fight and I landed a lovely wee ballan. I persevered a bit more but the rest of them seemed to have spooked and I reverted back to seatrout fishing. 

Can't say no to wrasse.

Cool jighead, the presentation looks similar to a jika rig.

Despite my efforts they just didn't seem too interested today and I had 5-6 follows and one half-hearted take which dropped off immediately after. By now I had drifted to the shallow bays and kept covering water. 

After yet another cast, I saw some disturbance in the surface near my lure and then a gray shape taking it. I immediately knew what this was and after a wee fight I managed to slip the net under my first Isle of Skye bass! It was only around a kilo but in perfect condition and I put it straight back after a couple photos. I knew there's bass on the island but not in any numbers that would merit targeted efforts. I have been fishing this mark for years and although I've always thought that it would be a good mark for the bass, never encountered them till now. I've rarely visited it after July though and maybe that's a factor... 

First Skye bass!

I persisted casting in the area but I didn't see signs of any more surprisingly. I decided to call it a day soon after. It was one of those days that despite the lack of numbers of landed fish, the encounters and the 'action' was plenty for me. One thing is certain though, the kayak will be coming out much more often!

Tight lines 

Slowly edging towards Spring.

 The weather has given us glimpses of Spring the past couple of weeks and I've had a few outings in salt and freshwater. Had a few nice fish on a short SIB session after work and got some nice underwater footage that I've yet to edit!  The pollock were up for larger and more natural baits than the reaction lures I tend to use this time of year and there seemed to be a mix of prespawn and postspawn fish.  My Northumbrian friends lures did well again.

A solid fish OTD.

A couple days ago I tried to open my sea trout account as well.  Took me a while, but I did find a group of sewin at a slightly different place of where I usually catch them. They were patrolling a rocky point close to some deeper water.  Got 3 fish stuck, landed 2 and had a couple missed hits as well. Only small but they were there and pretty as ever!

Beautiful silver missile.

 I also managed a very short session on the kayak, on our way back from a day trip. Fitted the fish finder to it as well and I was salivating at what I was seeing!  Definitely will be doing more of that soon. Typically, I only got 2 bites and landed a nice but skinny brownie...

Good size but skinny. 

The inflatable kayak has been a pleasure to use so far and my only gripe is that the rudder could be improved as the turns are quite wide. I'm sure I'll work something out for that...

My time has been more limited than usual the past couple months but now with some of the covid restrictions getting lifted, I hope to start the guiding and even more fishing! 

Tight lines 

Opening up my trout season!

 Had a few days around Arisaig last week and even though the weather still is wintry cold, It was dry enought to let me go trout fishing. I had a short kayak session in Loch Morar without getting a single bite or seeing any signs of life. It was great trying out the pedals on the kayak though and I was impressed with the speed (4.5kts) even with face on wind! 

Great potential.

Thats me...

 

The next day I opted for a session on a much smaller hill lochan that is a sort of a hidden gem. The water vegetation was looking much greener here and it wasnt long till I got the first fish of the day. It hit a green Ecogear S Grass minnow on a 5g tungsten cheburashka fitted with a chatterblade. I use this combo on a larger/heavier version for my seafishing but I thought it might work for early season trout if I downsized. 

Glad it worked.

Bonnie fish.

Small but beautiful.

 I had 6 hits, landed 3 fish and the rest managed to shed the hook, though not with their usual jumps. I find that early in the year they dont do that as much. Still those few fish were great fun on my old SPRO Mobile Stick 80UL and I was glad to have opened my trout account!

It was snowing again today so I think Ill wait a couple more weeks till im after them again. Im sure this Spring will come sometime this year...

Tight Lines

Too many projects, too little time!

Been a while since my last post and this isn't because of nothing new happening. On the contrary, there's too much going on! 

Fishing has taken a back seat and I've only managed a couple sessions that were relatively productive. Finding the fish was the tricky part as they seemed to be concentrated in only a few places.  Once found, they were up for it and the chatterbait-cheburashka in particular was very effective. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unbelievably I even had some coalies hit the topwater back in February! I was let down by my action cam and smartphone battery life though and don't have the pics and videos that I should have from those sessions.  I blame the long sessions and the cold conditions for this. Especially my smartphone seems to get drained very quickly when I'm running Navionics and the trolling motor from it. I've bought a power bank to alleviate this problem. 

My friend Chris's homemade softplastics and jigheads/chebs have been doing very well too and I definitely think that the suppleness of homepoured softplastics is an important factor for their success in cold conditions and fussy fish. 

One of my mates forktails...

 

And a sandeel imitation.

 

I've had to repair the inflatable keel of my boat  as it started showing tiny holes along a seam and loosing pressure. It looks like it's an age related issue and I've tried to fix it by pouring Sealskin sealant in the tube. This seems to have sorted it for now. I really can't wait for my F-Rib to arrive but there's no clear ETA for that...

Unhappy with not having my new boat and affected by this lockdown, I took the plunge and bought an inflatable pedal kayak to fill the void...! It's a Story-1 dropstitch pedal kayak and only managed to have a wee try on it last week.  Hopefully I'll put it through its paces soon...

The yak minus the pedal gear.

Used it without the pedals just to get a feel for it...

The water chiller has been keeping the fish tank consistently at 12C but unfortunately the goldsinny wrasse has been getting aggressive towards some of the smaller inhabitants. It pecked the wee gurnard's tail and unfortunately the lobster got it soon after.  I think it might be time to release the wrasse and introduce some less territorial (and less toothy) fish. Definitely scorpions and maybe rockling again. The lobster has been incessantly rearranging the tank lately and I think it's time for moulting again.

Love gurnards now!

The starfish appeared out of nowhere weeks after putting it in the tank. The lumpfish unfortunately got taken by the lobster.

My plans for this month are to kick off the trout season and use the kayak as much as possible. Also, would really like a couple calm water days to get the boat out in the salt!

Tight Lines!